Overview

• The Nature Medicine study estimates that 15.6 million people born between 2008 and 2017 will develop gastric cancer if prevention efforts remain unchanged.
• Researchers attribute 76% of those cases to chronic Helicobacter pylori infection, identifying it as the leading modifiable driver of the disease.
• Asia is projected to see 10.6 million new cases and sub-Saharan Africa could face a sixfold increase in burden without intervention.
• Modeling shows a fully effective population-wide H. pylori screen-and-treat strategy could reduce gastric cancer cases by up to 75%.
• IARC authors are calling on health authorities to launch pilot screen-and-treat programs despite data gaps in low-resource settings.